by Dr. David Cowen, Professor Emeritus of Geography, University of South Carolina

As the presence and use of geospatial technologies expands in higher education, the idea of a “spatial university” is emerging. Many believe that the identification of exemplary universities that foster spatial thinking and research across the campus would elevate the structure of our discipline, provide an avenue for highlighting particularly strong programs, and add prestige to selected universities. These ideas have begun to be explored during a recent Specialist’s Meeting at UC Santa Barbara and by Esri, but the final vision remains open. Ideally the process would encourage innovation and provide examples of best practices to be replicated across other institutions. First, however, there must be wide-spread acceptance by a broad GIS community of criteria and metrics that reflect success and quality.

This webinar will focus on the merits of identifying spatial universities and describe scenarios and alternatives for their selection. We will present feedback on this initiative that has been gathered at previous forums, and provide an opportunity for UCGIS members and others to express their opinions about the concept. Read more.